The Interaction of Political Power and Wealth - Wealth & Poverty Class 6
The vicious cycle
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Friends,
This week brings us to one of the core problems of widening inequality — the inevitability that concentrated income and wealth at the top comes with political power. This creates a vicious cycle by which the super-rich have enough power to get changes in the rules of the game — changes that make them even richer and more powerful, which enables them to make further changes. And so on.
The questions I’ll be addressing this week: How does economic power translate into political power? How does political power generate more economic power? How much of the phenomenon of widening inequality is due to this vicious cycle? Also: What’s the difference between “pre-distribution” and “redistribution” of income and wealth? In what ways are income and wealth now pre-distributed upward?
Recommended readings (just click on the link):
Adam Smith was a moral philosopher who wanted a congenial society (Denmark, anyone?). I believe he realized that his capitalistic economic system would over-reward the capitalist (Exhibit A, Mark Zuckerberg). So, although Smith wanted laissez-faire economics, he also invented progressive taxation. Here, the wealthy would pay not just more taxes than the less wealthy, but a higher percentage of their income in taxes.
That way, they could stay wealthy, but would not become too wealthy and powerful.
Smith wanted a government strong enough to collect taxes and keep corporations from colluding (monopoly). Taxes would be used for all those socially important activities such as building bridges, roads, canals, and schools, activities that your average capitalist could not make money from. Taxes would also be be used to educate children, so you could have a well-informed and intelligent populace.
We had such an economy between 1948 and 1980. Taxes were high, tariffs were low, and 50% of Americans went to college - the stuff of Smith. The average American was wealthy above and beyond anything seen in any other country in the world, until....
Enter that horse's ass Ronald Reagan with his advisor Milton Friedman. Standing Smith on his head, they said "Government is the problem, never the answer." and they proceeded to bust unions, dismantle government, cut taxes, and laying the foundation for shipping factories to Mexico. All in the service of enriching the wealthy even more.
The result? After 40 years of this, the middle class has been strip-mined. The average American has seen a decline in real wages, the rich have grown astronomically richer, we have a Citizens United Congress which has derailed healthcare and allowed large corporations to monopolize and violate the Smithian free market by fixing prices.
How was this possible? Simple. After Civil Right, large tracts of the country went from voting Democrat to voting Republican - against their own economic interests.
The solution? Whether by messaging or policy, these people have to be brought back to the Democratic party.
Big things have small beginnings. May I suggest an executive order on healthcare?
Robert: have and are you going to talk with Pres. Biden about a weekly podcast?
WHEN WILL THE PRESIDENT START HIS WEEKLY PODCAST TO SET THE RECORD STRAIGHT..EACH WEEK A NEW TOPIC;
CHEATING TO WIN, OUR RIGHT TO VOTE, EVERYONE PAYS THEIR FAIR SHARE OF TAXES,END CITIZENS UNITED, SETTING UP AN MODERN VERSION OF ELLIS ISLAND AT OUR SOUTHERN BORDER, CORPORATE GREED CAUSING INFLATION, MEMBERS OF CONGRESS TAKING GRAFT INSTEAD OF VOTING FOR THE PEOPLE, THE CARRIED INTEREST LOOLPHOLE, WHY WE STILL HAVE IT/??????? TREASON FROM THE INSIDE OF CONGRESS..ATTACKS FROM WITHIN.
and:
the Heritage foundation writing all the anti-voting bills.
Hillsdale college leading in the banning of books, changing history, and bills against teaching the truth about slavery and our government history of racial predjudice, and against other races too...especially the America's indiginous people.
Republicans are nothing if not organized.... we must take some lessons...
THERE'S A START..